Nightclub fire in Brazil leaves over 200 dead

A crowd stands outside the Kiss nightclub during a fire inside the club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. A blaze raced through the crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing 245 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.(AP Photo/Roger Shlossmacker)

ALTERNATIVE CROP OF XSI107.- Relatives of victims react as they wait for news near the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the club while a band was performing. (AP Photo/Ronald Mendes-Agencia RBS)

Relatives of victims react as they wait for news near the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the club while a band was performing. (AP Photo/Ronald Mendes-Agencia RBS)

Relatives of victims react as they wait for news in fron of the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the club while a band was performing. (AP Photo/Ronald Mendes-Agencia RBS)

Relatives of victims react near the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the club while a band was performing. (AP Photo/Ronald Mendes-Agencia RBS)

A man carries an injured victim of a fire at the Kiss club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, early Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Firefighters say that the death toll from a fire that swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil has risen to 180. Officials say the fire broke out while a band was performing. At least 200 people ere also injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

A victim of a fire in a club is carried in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, early Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the Kiss club in the city of Santa Maria while a band was performing. At least 200 people were also injured. (AP Photo/Deivid Dutra/Agencia Freelancer)

Firefighters work to douse a fire at the Kiss Club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Firefighters say that the death toll from a fire that swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil has risen to 180. Officials say the fire broke out at the club while a band was performing. At least 200 people were also injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

People help an injured man, victim of a fire in a club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the Kiss club in the city of Santa Maria while a band was performing. At least 200 people were also injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

ALTERNATIVE CROP OF XSI103.- People help an injured man, victim of a fire in a club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the Kiss club in the city of Santa Maria while a band was performing. At least 200 people were also injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

A woman cries over the coffin of a victim at a gymnasium where bodies were brought for identification in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. (AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

Family members and friends stand around coffins containing the remains of victims after the bodies were identified at a gymnasium in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. Officials counted more than 230 bodies that were brought for identification to the gymnasium in Santa Maria,(AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

Injured people lies on the ground outside the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. A blaze raced through the crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 200 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.(AP Photo/Roger Shlossmacker)

A relative of a victim is comforted in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. A blaze raced through the crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 200 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.(AP Photo/Evandro Sturm)

Relatives of victims react in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. A blaze raced through the crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 200 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.(AP Photo/Evandro Sturm)

Family members and friends mourn as they stand around a coffin containing the remains of a victim after the bodies were identified at a gymnasium in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. Officials counted more than 230 bodies that were brought for identification to the gymnasium in Santa Maria,(AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

Police investigators inspect the entrance of the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. (AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

Family members and friends stand around coffins containing the remains of victims after the bodies were identified at a gymnasium in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. Officials counted more than 230 bodies that were brought for identification to the gymnasium in Santa Maria,(AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

Family members and friends stand around coffins containing the remains of victims after the bodies were identified at a gymnasium in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. Officials counted more than 230 bodies that were brought for identification to the gymnasium in Santa Maria,(AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

Brazil's soldiers carry a container with the remains of a victim outside a gymnasium where bodies were brought for identification in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. (AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff comforts victim's relatives in Santa Maria, southern Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Rousseff cut short a visit to Chile early Sunday to go to Santa Maria after a deadly nightclub fire. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 200 people as panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits and gasped for air in the smoke-filled space, authorities said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade. (AP Photo/Roberto Stuckert Filho/Brazil's Presidency)

Catholic swimming and diving head coach Anita Dinwiddie, right, is presented with roases and is recognized for her achievements during the Knoxville Interscholastic Swim League championship swim meet on Sunday, January 27, 2013. Dinwiddie is retiring at the end of the season after 25 years of coaching swimming in Knoxville according to collegue and Farragut High School swim team administrator Brenda McGrath. (Saul Young/News Sentinel)